Questions and Answers
December 22, 2000

Question: What does the new bill do?

Answer: The Act created the Black Rock Desert - High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA) and 10 new wilderness areas in the vicinity.
     The total federal acreage involved is 1,172,000, all of which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Of this total, 795,200 acres are in the NCA and 755,400 acres are in wilderness areas. (Please note that 378,600 acres designated as wilderness are located within the NCA boundaries and 376,800 are outside the NCA.) All acreage figures are approximate.

Question: What is a National Conservation Area?

Answer: NCAs are areas of federal public lands administered by the BLM that are designated by Congress in legislation that is signed by the President to recognize and protect important national resources present there. Each Act creating an NCA specifies the purpose that area was designated.

Question: What was the purpose for establishing this NCA?

Answer: The Black Rock Desert - High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails NCA was established to:

"... conserve, protect, and enhance for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations the unique and nationally important historical, cultural, paleontological, scenic, scientific, biological, educational, wildlife, riparian, wilderness, endangered species, and recreational values and resources associated with the Applegate-Lassen and Nobles Trails corridors and surrounding areas ...."

Question: What are some of the resources and values in the Black Rock Desert - High Rock Canyon area?

Answer: Among the many diverse resources found in the new NCA and adjacent wilderness Areas, are: segments of historic California Emigrant Trails and trails used by John C. Fremont 

Question: What’s the difference between an NCA and a wilderness?

Answer: Wilderness areas are administered under authority of the Wilderness Act of 1964. This Act emphasizes management for wilderness values such as solitude and preservation. Each NCA is administered under authority of the specific act that created it. The purpose for creation of the Black Rock Desert - High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails NCA has already been described.
     A significant difference between this NCA and the surrounding wilderness areas is the way the different designations affect mechanized travel and use of other mechanized equipment.
     In the 10 new wilderness areas use of mechanized equipment and mechanized travel is prohibited by the Wilderness Act of 1964 except on access roads to non-federal lands that existed at the time Congress designated the area as wilderness.
     In the portions of the NCA that are not designated wilderness, mechanized travel and use of other mechanized equipment are regulated by BLM, but are not prohibited by the Act establishing this NCA.

Question: What about vehicle access to the playa?

Answer: Access to the areas of the playa that are not designated wilderness are subject to BLM regulation, but such regulation will maintain adequate access.

Question: Can wheelchairs be used in wilderness?

Answer: Yes. Persons requiring wheelchairs may use them in wilderness.

Question: How does the Act affect use of motorized vehicles in the newly designated areas?

Answer: The Act restricteds motorized vehicles to "roads and trails and ... other areas designated for use of motorized vehicles as part of the management plan...." "Other areas" include the playa in non-wilderness parts of the NCA subject to applicable BLM management plans.
     In the wilderness areas, motorized vehicles may not be used. However, it should be noted that some roads that remain designated for continued public use parallel wilderness boundaries. These roads may be used to approach, but not enter designated wilderness areas at many locations.
     Some isolated non-federal land parcels located within wilderness areas are accessed by designated open roads. Such roads are not part of the wilderness area and may be used by motor vehicles to approach wilderness boundaries within the outer edges of the wilderness as a whole. Generally, wilderness boundaries are setback no less than 30 feet from the edges of such access roads; enough room to pull off the side of the road and to turn around. The public is responsible for knowing where wilderness boundaries are located and not crossing such boundaries with a motorized vehicle.

Question: How does the Act affect OHV use on the Black Rock Playa?

Answer: OHV use in the west arm of the playa north of Gerlach, and in all other areas within the NCA but not within designated wilderness, is not affected by the Act. OHV use in most non-wilderness areas of the NCA will be regulated initially by the amendment to the Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan currently being prepared by the BLM’s Winnemucca Field Office. This amendment has been in development for several years and has included many opportunities for public comment. Every public comment is being considered and addressed during the planning process.
     OHV use is prohibited in those parts of the east arm of the playa included in the newly-designated wilderness areas, and in all other designated wilderness.

Question: How does the Act affect access to private lands within the boundaries of the NCA and wilderness areas?

Answer: The Act requires that "reasonable access to privately owned land or interests in land within the boundaries of the conservation area [NCA]" be provided. In wilderness areas, BLM will approve access routes to non-federal lands that cause the least impact on the wilderness and are as consistent as possible with management of the area while permitting reasonable use of the non-federal land.

Question: Will grazing continue in the NCA?

Answer: Yes, previously permitted grazing may continue. The Act requires that currently permitted "livestock grazing in the conservation area [NCA] ... shall be allowed to continue subject to all applicable laws, regulations, and executive orders."

Question: Will grazing continue in the new wilderness areas?

Answer: Yes. As in the NCA, previously permitted grazing may continue "... subject to such reasonable regulations, policies, and practices ... necessary ...."

Question: Does the new NCA designation mean that mineral and geothermal operations will now be prohibited?

Answer: The Act states that, "Subject to valid existing rights, all Federal lands within the conservation area [NCA] and all lands and interests therein which are hereafter acquired by the United States are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, from operation of the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws and from the minerals materials laws and all amendments thereto."
     This means that valid existing mining operations and mining claims may continue subject to BLM and other applicable regulations. However, no new claims may be filed in the NCA and no locatable mining or geothermal operations may occur there except on previously existing valid claims and when in compliance with all other applicable regulations. Mineral leasing operations and mineral materials sales are also subject to valid existing rights and may continue at BLM’s discretion and in compliance with all applicable regulations.

Question: Will mineral and geothermal operations now be prohibited in the 10 new wilderness areas?

Answer: As in the NCA, valid existing mineral rights will be honored, but no new claims may be filed. Since 1983, the location of new mining claims has been prohibited in wilderness, but the Wilderness Act specifically recognizes valid existing rights, including, subject to all other applicable regulations, the right to mine valid claims existing at the time the wilderness was designated. Upon conclusion of mining operations, reclamation must begin within six months, and must be completed, including appropriate revegetation, within a reasonable time as determined by BLM. Whenever possible and feasible, reclamation must restore the surface to a contour which appears to be natural.
     Also as in the NCA, activity authorized under an existing mineral lease or mineral materials sale may continue, subject to all applicable regulations and at the discretion of BLM.

Question: How do we know where the wilderness boundaries are?

Answer: As soon as possible, BLM will mark the boundaries of the NCA and the wilderness areas on the ground. Boundary markers will be set back from open roads and non-federal property in accordance with applicable regulations.
     BLM will also begin work on preparing final maps and legal descriptions as required in the Act. The new NCA and wilderness will also be shown on the soon-to-be-published BLM Winnemucca Field Office Recreation Map.

Question: What management planning will be done?

Answer: The Act requires BLM to develop, within three years, a "comprehensive resource management plan for the long-term protection and management of the conservation area [NCA]." During this planning process, the public will again be asked to provide comments and concerns, and these will be addressed when a final plan is created. This plan will also be developed in cooperation with the BLM’s Surprise Field Office in California which manages the western part of the area affected by the Act.
     In the interim, the Amendment to the Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan currently in the process of completion will be modified to conform to all requirements mandated by the new Act and will serve as meeting the intent of the plan requirement stated in Section 5 (e) of the Act.

Question: How does the Act affect special recreation permitted events (SRP’s) like land speed record attempts and high-altitude rocket launches, and large-scale events like Burning Man?

Answer: Permitted events involving use of mechanized equipment and mechanized vehicles cannot be permitted within designated wilderness areas. However, the Act states that "large-scale events in defined, low-impact areas of the Black Rock Desert playa in the conservation area [NCA]" may continue in accordance with the NCA management plan.
     This language allows such events may be permitted within the NCA under the terms of BLM’s management plan for the conservation area.

Question: How does the Act affect water rights?

Answer: The Act does not address water rights, so existing laws, regulations and policy will be followed.

Question: What is BLM’s policy regarding acquisition of non-federal lands within the NCA and wilderness areas?

Answer: The Act does not address acquisition of private lands in the NCA or the wilderness areas. BLM is always willing to discuss land exchanges or acquisitions with willing sellers.

Question: How does the Act affect recreational rockhounding, hunting, and similar non-commercial activities?

Answer: Recreational rockhounding and hunting are allowed in both NCAs and wilderness areas. The BLM’s recently-published Final Rule on Activities in wilderness areas will apply in the 10 new wilderness areas. Hobby collecting of minerals, gemstones, and common fossils must be compatible with wilderness preservation and either conform with the applicable BLM management plan or be done under a BLM authorization. Hunters must comply with Nevada state law.
     Use of small, hand-held or portable equipment such as metal detectors, Geiger counters, cell phones, radios, camp stoves, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is allowed in the NCA and wilderness.
     Regulations prohibit the use of wheeled game carriers, chainsaws and other kinds of motorized equipment in wilderness areas. However, these items may be used in non-wilderness areas of the NCA subject to applicable BLM management plans.

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